Photo by Madoline Markham.
Hollywood Union Hill Cemetery
Plans for the proposed bridge project included a sidewalk to run in front of Union Hill Cemetery on Hollywood Boulevard.
The scope of the pedestrian bridge project on Hollywood Boulevard could be expanding.
The project is a joint venture to create a walking path connecting Homewood and Mountain Brook. The bridge, as initially planned, would travel along the north side of the Hollywood Boulevard bridge across U.S. 280 and connect a trail system that circles the Birmingham Zoo.
During the Mountain Brook City Council’s regular pre-meeting in March, Council member Jesse Vogtle said some factors uncovered during the project’s development require more consideration. Namely, expenses for both communities have increased beyond what was allocated in their 2014 budgets.
In addition, the two communities are concerned about congestion on the bridge following the Alabama Department of Transportation’s (ALDOT’s) U.S. 280 Intersection Improvement Project.
“Changes to Highway 280 have created a real traffic situation on the Hollywood Boulevard overpass,” Vogtle said. “The impacted cities are starting to scratch their heads and consider pursuing this in a much bigger way.”
Vogtle said the use of Hollywood Boulevard as a “Michigan left” — a U-turn site for drivers changing directions or crossing U.S. 280 — has crowded the intersection and bridge. Both communities also consider the current bridge unsafe for pedestrians, and the cities are now jointly looking into a simultaneous solution for both issues.
“I want us to discuss not only the pedestrian bridge, but I also think it would be smart for us to be proactive on other issues,” Homewood Mayor Scott McBrayer said.
That could mean a bigger bridge.
For the time being, the development of the project has been put on hold while the cities involved arrange a collaborative discussion. McBrayer said he plans to reach out to Mountain Brook Mayor Terry Oden to assemble a meeting among project stakeholders in the coming weeks.
“So far, this has just been about sidewalks and a pedestrian walkway across the bridge,” McBrayer said. “We have an opportunity to widen the scope and address all these issues at once.”
The current Hollywood Bridge is approximately 50 years old, Vogtle said, and the communities investing in the project are concerned that ALDOT could schedule construction on the existing structure in the near future. This could limit the lifespan of the pedestrian bridge project as it’s currently proposed.
Basically, the cities involved want to make sure that if they put up the pedestrian bridge, it isn’t torn down anytime soon.
“What a waste of money that would be,” McBrayer said.
Vogtle said he expects the bridge’s replacement or widening to come up in the joint meeting, which could lead to a request for increased funding for the project.
Rep. Paul DeMarco, who initially secured federal funding for the pedestrian bridge, said he believed there is a need to move quickly on creating safe paths across U.S. 280 on Hollywood. He added he looked forward to working with both communities and ALDOT to make it happen.
“When we first started, the idea was to create collaboration between these cities and the state,” DeMarco said. “We got that, and we’ll move forward. This project is about the safety of our residents and anybody else who walks across that bridge. It’s not safe, and thank goodness nobody has been hurt. We need to get this done sooner rather than later.”
